


Tears of gold

by rundownserene



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Best Friends, M/M, Possibly Unrequited Love, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26424673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rundownserene/pseuds/rundownserene
Summary: Tsukishima Kei and Tadashi Yamaguchi had been friends for years. Somewhere along the way Yamaguchi had caught feelings for the taller male but never dared to confess in fear of being turned down. Tsukishima had been his closest friends and he didn't dare do anything that could cause him to ruin their friendship. Now in high school the two are on the boys volleyball team together and get to hang out often at practice and occasionally outside of school on the weekends. Yamaguchi cherished every moment they had together, yes he had strong romantic feelings toward his friend but he would rather keep things the way they were between them and have his feelings go unnoticed than to confess and lose the person he loved the most.
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anime_bitxhali](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anime_bitxhali/gifts).



One peaceful afternoon Yamaguchi and Tsukishima were in Tsukishimas bedroom studying for an upcoming test. They often studied together, usually in silence but the presence of one another comforting for both. Though today was different for Yamaguchi. The subject he was studying was not something he usually struggled with but today he just couldn't seem to focus on the word-filled piece of paper before him. With the blonde male sitting across the table he fidgeted with his sweaty hands in his lap. He had been hiding romantic feelings for his best friend since they were very young and he had convinced himself that he would never stand a chance of being accepted if he confessed, though a part of him was not content with just being friends and wanted to close the distance between friends and lovers. This, of course, ate away at Yamaguchi every time the pair hung out. The back and forth of deciding what to do was often too much for him. He knew that many girls in their class had their eyes on Tsukishima but the taller male seemed to pay no attention to the females always chasing after him. One burning question in the back of Yamaguchi's head was whether or not his best friend even liked guys. The lack of an answer to this question allowed even more anxiety to fill him.

The green-haired males' thoughts were interrupted when the sound of a ringing phone broke the silence in the room. "Oh, let me get this" Tsukishima said as he picked up his phone and left to the hallway. "Okay Tsukki" was all Yamaguchi could mutter as his thoughts became more scattered. He was very curious as to who could be on the other line, for all the years Yamaguchi had known Tsukishima he knew that the blond would rarely answer phone calls, let alone leave the room to take them. Curiosity ate away at him, he really really wanted to know who it was that would make Tsukishima do something so out of character. Before he realized what he was doing he had gotten up and was about to lean against the door in an attempt to listen in on the conversation but the door flew open before he reached it.

"Oh, Yamaguchi are you going somewhere?" Tsukishima asked. "Oh! Yeah, Tsukki I was just gonna use the bathroom real quick" Yamaguchi studdered in an attempt to not come off as suspicious. "Okay". "Umm... hey Tsukki" he stumbled. "Yes?" Tsukishima replied in his usual monotone voice. "Who was that on the phone?". As soon as the question came out of his mouth Yamaguchi could feel his heartbeat quicken as if he were scared to learn the answer. "Oh. That was just my girlfriend" Tsukishima calmly replied as he sat down to resume his studies. "Oh cool! I didn't know you had a girlfriend Tsukki" Yamaguchi wobbled as he quickly turned and headed out the door.

Once safely in the bathroom with the door closed Yamaguchi burst into tears. He could feel his heart beginning to break as tears steadily streamed down his face. He put one hand over his mouth in an attempt to muffle his sobs, the tears feeling hot as they rolled down his cheeks. He sat on the floor of the bathroom crying for a few minutes, trying to let out only what was necessary for him to regain composure and leave. Once he was able to steady his breathing a bit he began to wipe at his face. When he looked at his hand he saw the all too familiar gold colored fragments on his fingers. Not too long ago Yamaguchi had begun crying beautiful star fragments when he thought of his best friend. He learned that his star tears were much like the hanahaki disease in which if the person affected continued to suffer from unrequited love something unfortunate would happen to them. Upon further research, he learned that star tears were less likely to occur, and if this continued he would eventually go blind as a result of the growing fragments falling from his eyes. In the beginning the stars a small, about the size of fine glitter, but grow in size the longer you suffer. The size now falling from his eyes was quite large and he feared he would go blind soon.

Once he was able to compose himself he opened the door to head back to Tsukishimas bedroom. When he opened the door he saw his best friend standing there in a position indicating that he was about to knock and check on the green-haired male. "Oh, Yamaguchi. Are you okay? You were gone for a while". "Oh yeah, I'm fine Tsukki! Although I'm starting to not feel that well I think I might head home early today" Yamaguchi responded as he pushed past the blond male to go collect his belongings. Tsukishima peaked his head in the restroom real quick when something caught his attention from the corner of the room. On the wall by the sink he saw a hand towel but what caught his eye was that it seemed to be covered in a gold and sparkly substance he had never seen before. He grabbed the towel and walked to his room to question his friend but when he got there Yamaguchi had already left.


	2. Chapter 2

The following Saturday Yamaguchi was pleased to receive an invite from Tsukishima to go see the new sci-fi movie that had just come out. He hoped this would be his chance to hang out with Tsukki normally again. As he made his way into the theater he walked towards the concession stand where his best friend was waiting with a soft drink already in hand. Yamaguchi waved as he walked up. "Hey, you want me to get us some popcorn?" he smiled. "Kei! I got extra butter on it just how you like it" a cheerful voice called out. When Yamaguchi turned to see who the voice belonged to he was met with a girl who had beautiful mid-length brunette hair, light brown eyes, and a beautiful smile. She was significantly shorter than the two boys, standing at about 5'4" - 5'5" and was wearing a cute oversized sweater and jeans. "Yamaguchi this is my girlfriend [fill in name here]". Hearing those words was definitely a shock to the green haired male as he never expected to meet her. "Oh... nice to meet you!" he stuck out his hand. She giggled in response as she couldn't shake his hand because both were needed for her to hold the popcorn.

The three of them found their seats in the dark theater. Tsukishima sat in the middle, his girlfriend to his left, and Yamaguchi to his right. The movie was alright from what Yamaguchi could remember but he wasn't focusing at all because he was feeling overwhelmed by how much awkwardness the situation brought him. He couldn't help but focus on how much he was third-wheeling and was so conscious of every move the couple made. He tried to direct his attention to the screen because seeing his crush with their partner just made him sad. Yamaguchi started to ease up and focus on the plot of the movie until he noticed Tsukishima put his arm around his girlfriend. Yamaguchi felt like he couldn't take it anymore and quietly tried to leave the theater. "Where are you going?" Tsukishima whispered as he grabbed ahold of Yamaguchi's arm. "Oh, I'm just going to use the bathroom". When he exited the theater Yamaguchi walked fast until he exited the main doors of the building. He felt bad for lying and leaving without saying goodbye but he felt like staying there would've killed him. As he walked home alone he figured he would apologize to Tsukishima on Monday when they ate lunch together. 

On Monday Yamaguchi sat in fourth period impatiently. He wanted time to pass quickly so he could hurry and get to having lunch with Tsukki. Over the weekend the guilt from just walking out was eating him up inside and he felt he needed to explain himself and apologize. He didn't want Tsukishima to think he hated his girlfriend. He thought she was a lovely girl and probably would've loved to be friends with her under difference circumstances but with the way things were currently he didn't want to be her friend, he wanted to be her. He spaced out in class repeating in his head what he would say at lunch.

Before he knew it the lunch bell he had been waiting for rand and Yamaguchi headed to the roof where he and Tsukki often ate together. When he opened the door to the roof he was greeted with the surprise that Tsukishima's girlfriend would be joining them as well. Greetings were shared among the three as they all had different fourth period classes but the meal was in silence aside from that. Yamaguchi would occasionally mention something to his best friend which was normally shrugged off, sparking no conversation. With about five minutes left of their lunch break tsukki's girlfriend announced that she would be leaving early to go ask her teacher a question before the next class started and said her farewell to the boys. Once she was gone Tsukishima broke the silence between the pair. "Yamaguchi have you been doing okay lately?". "Oh, yeah Tsukki. Why do you ask?" he gulped, hoping his lying was okay enough that the blonde wouldn't question. "You've been acting very weird lately. If somethings wrong you should just say it" his best friend responded sternly. Before Yamaguchi could respond the bell rang and Tsukishima quickly got up and left. The two didn't talk alone for the rest of the day.

That night Yamaguchi couldn't sleep a wink. Left alone in the dark with nothing but his thoughts his mind began to wander to old memories of him and his best friend. Sometimes he couldn't believe he really fell in love with the taller, stand-offish male. Tsukishima came off as very cold and rude to most people but Yamaguchi knew he cared, he just showed if differently. His mind quickly switched to remembering the curent situation. his crush already had a girlfriend. This pained Yamaguchi. He thought Tsukki's girlfriend was great and all but if he could, and he felt bad about this, he would get rid of her and take her place in a heartbeat. Remebering how happy the two looked at the movie theater made him hurt and a few tears started to trickle from his eyes. He felt a little bit of pain but he couldn't tell if it was because of the star fragments or because he had been crying more often recently, it was too dark to tell. He realized he really only had two options. He could confess to Tsukishima and at least get that off his chest, or he could sit back and silently suffer as he watched his best friend be with someone else. Although he would hate it, Yamaguchi knew he would always choose the second because seeing the one he loved be happy meant more to him than his own happiness or feelings and this just made Yamaguchi cry more.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it's been so long since I posted the last chapter

The next day after school Yamaguchi nervously headed over to the gym for volleyball practice. He needed to start acting normally again in front of everyone, especially Tsukki, he couldn't let anyone know something was bothering him. He got there early and began setting things up before the rest of the team joined him. 10 minutes before practice would officially start and Yamaguchi felt as nervous as ever. Tsukki had not shown up yet, this bugged him a lot because the blond male was never late to anything. He began walking out of the gym to go find his best friend but when he walked out of the doors he was stopped dead in his tracks. Against the gym wall he saw the boy he was in love with kissing his girlfriend. Immediately upon seeing the scene before him tears began to roll down his face, and to make it worse Tsukishima had turned and made eye contact with the now crying Yamaguchi. As emotions began to take over him Yamaguchi turned and ran to go hide in the bathroom outside of the gym. Once in the side building he collapsed on his knees and began to break down. He could see his tears falling on the tile before him, becoming coated in his glittery gold fragments. His vision quickly became very blurred and he could see how large his star fragments were, they hurt a lot. "Haha, I'm probably gonna go blind now" he choked out. Helplessness was all he felt.

Behind him he heard the door fly open and when he turned around he saw a very frazzled Tsukishima looking at him. Embarrassed, Yamaguchi quickly crawled and tried to make himself feel small in the corner of the room. "Yamaguchi why are you crying" his best friend sternly questioned. He couldn't answer, he only faced the corner wall and let the pain consume him. "YAMAGUCHI" Tsukki shouted, now grabbing the green-haired male and turning him so they would face each other. Yamaguchi was now forced to look his best friend in the eyes, unable to ignore the blonds' very concerned face. Tsukishima wiped at Yamaguchi's face looking at the stars that now coated his fingers. "It's umm... star fragments" Yamaguchi stumbled. "I know, I saw them at my house on the towel that one time. But... now they're quite large. Yamaguchi, why didn't you tell me? You're going through all this pain because of these stars" he spat, as if upset with the stars themselves. "It's okay Tsukki I'm fine". Tsukishima knew something was wrong, very wrong. "Yamaguchi. What's happening now?". "I think... I think I'm going blind Tsukki" Yamaguchi choked. The blond male couldn't find the right words to say, instead, he sat there wiping his best friend's face as he lost his eyesight. 

Tsukishima felt guilt in the pit of his stomach, he knew he was the cause of this but couldn't help his friend. "They truly are beautiful" the blond whispered as he wiped away a tear. He engulfed his friend into a hug, something he never did, and kissed the side of his right eye as Yamaguchi lost his eye sight.


End file.
